Attended the Choose Chicago Open House this year and very happy with my experiences. Able to check…read moreout 5 really cool establishment: Mindworks, Chicago Symphony, Federal Reserve, Wintrust Vault and Red Building (333 S. Wabash). All in all a very good experience. I wish that I would have gotten started earlier in the day. I liked the ventures on the app which allowed me to set up an itinerary. Some locations that I wanted to see were closed on Sunday. Favorites spots were the Federal Reserve and 333 S. Wabash. This event only happens once per year but really a good opportunity to check out over 120 buildings in various neighborhoods for free. Very neat experience and if you love history, architecture or sight seeing then this free event is for you.

This visitor center is a great place to start your visit to Chicago. They have docents that offer a…read morenumber of free tours of the area including a great two hour tour of Millennium Park. They are also knowledgeable about other excellent tours by the Chicago Architectural Foundation and other Chicago highlights. The Chicago Architectural Foundation is a few blocks south on Michigan Avenue and is also very worthwhile.

Great visitor center with friendly park rangers available to answer questions. They offer maps,…read morebrochures, and passport stamp stations for National Park Passport holders. The center also has a gift shop, coffee shop, clean public restrooms, and a nice selection of local artwork for sale. A great first stop when visiting the area!

This visitor's center is geared to the National Park. The grounds are beautiful with many native…read moreplants to see. There is a free theater on site that shares dunes history and current facts on a continuous loop. Gift shop is great. You might find National Park logo gear, local distillery non alcoholic merch and a small satellite Fluid Coffee Shop. There are a few park rangers on site to give advice on walking/hiking trails. They are also happy to answer any questions about the Indiana Dunes National Park. The lakeshore has two separate parks - a National Park and a State Park. Each park has a lot of similar attractions and a few different. If you have a yearly National Park Pass, I recommend going to the National Park. If you are an Indiana resident the State Park is a $7 admission per vehicle or $20 for out of state visitors.

Spring Valley has a Nature Center and also features the Heritage Farm. It's really a neat place for…read morea walk as you walk through a wooded area for about 5-7 minutes and then you see the farm houses with animal barns along with a few trails to follow. Spring Valley is a refuge of about 135 acres comprised of fields, forests, marshes, brooks and streams. Some trails are wood beamed while others are rocks and grass. It's a really enjoyable place to spend a few hours by yourself, with friends and family. Parking and entrances to the park are available on both sides 1) off Schaumburg Road 2) off Plum Grove Road.

I have been going here since the 80's and it is even better than ever now. I love taking my…read moredaughter for a hike to the farm after enjoying the nature center building. It is awesome how so many aspects of Spring Valley have remained the same while wonderful upgrades and additions have been made, too! Definitely a place that we will continue to visit throughout the year!

We always use this nice rest stop for its bathrooms when driving from Illinois to Michigan because…read moreit's always clean, has enough parking and the staff are very friendly. Sometimes they have exhibits in the area space inside the rest stop, which are nice to walk through. Usually for Christmas they have had nice exhibits there.

07/19/26 - Stopped at da Indiana Vistor center & dey had DA UNMITIGATED GALL TO HAVE A SIGN OF DA…read moreHAMMOND BEARS. . All I Ave to say is OH HELL NO!! I have been a lifelong fan of Da Chicago Bears & Dey betta not move from DA City to Hoosiervile or I might become a Packer Fan (No Way In Hell). This is actually kind of a cool Visitor center

Most Chicagoans know of Pullman Train Cars but forget that an entire historic neighborhood exists…read more [Not to mention that many Chicagoans fail to explore or acknowledge that culture and history continues past the South Loop!] This little neighborhood treasure is steps from the Pullman Metra Station and super easy to explore. The visitor's center and museum stands on half of the old Arcade Park (which now only half exists). They take donations to maintain the historic value of the buildings and have a great little "Pullman on Foot" guide for free (a picture is provided in business images). If you prefer something a little more organized, they offer guided tours the first Sunday of each month between May and October. Not to mention, they also have an Annual House Tour the second weekend of October offering an inside look of various private homes. The town was constructed in 1880 in order to create housing and community facilities for the employees of George M. Pullman's Palace Car Company. The neighborhood is architecturally unique with many structures that remain including: Administration Building and Clock Tower, Hotel Florence (under renovation), remnants of Market Hall and its' circular promenade, Pullman Hospital, Greenstone Church, The Greystone Mansion, Arcade Park, Pullman Stables, and various housing projects for executives and craftsmen alike. I hands-down recommend a few sites during your visit: -The fabulous Greenstone Church (the building materials are a rarity and were shipped from Italy). -The abandoned Administration Building and Clock Tower across 111th Street, and it's walking path containing the neighborhood garden and beehives. -Take note of the varied facades of many original, nineteenth-century residences with often maroon and shades of green (Pullman colors) and how the buildings mirror each other from the center of the block. Take advantage of free Chicago ventures such as Pullman!

I've never been here before. One of my MEETUP groups set up an afternoon here…read more We had perfect weather fora walking tour. We were one of 2 groups today. Only about 15 or 20 people per group. Our tour guide wasted a lot of time talking unnecessarily. I walk with a cane and it's very difficult to stand in one spot for 15 minutes. I was expecting a self guided your... I would have preferred it. Disappointed that the HOTEL FLORENCE was closed for remodeling.

Quality/Quantity - This is what Indiana is known for! And these are the 3 largest dunes in the…read morestate park! Not an easy hike for me as I was not prepared for it. If only my daughter gave me a heads up. I'm now prepared for our next hike, future Yelp coming. This event was supposed to be for a different day, a weekday. Time permitting, I recommend a weekday to visit. It was an hour wait just to get into the park on a beautiful Saturday. (We were warned by the team at the visitor center, but decided to do it anyway). Few dining choices, but WOW, look at all the beach BBQ set ups. I almost asked to join a few. Atmosphere - What a beautiful day today. The hike got better and easier when we got to the trees with shade. Hiking on the beach was just too hot for me. Well again, I did not dress for this event... 15,000 acres, 50 miles of trails, 300 mile lake. Please see the pictures. Open 7 days a week, Yelp hours differ, check with the park. Swimming hours from 11am to 6pm, well that is when there are lifeguards. Events and activities, see pictures or websites. Public showers and bathrooms - Keep in mind there are thousands of people using these, so the conditions reflect that. Service - Small helpful visitor center, see pictures. Also with a Yelp check-in, you get 5 free postcards. They convinced us to go to the state park rather than the national park. Good thing because I left my annual national park pass in my truck in CA. Price - $12 a car, discount for locals ($7). If you walk from the visitor center, $2 a person, but that is a 2+ mile walk each way, in the hot sun! Owner Comment - Congrats on your success since 1986. Next time we will come much earlier and appreciate more of your park.

The Dunes, as we affectionately call them, really proved themselves today. If you haven't visited…read morein the winter, you must. Lake Michigan and the sand dunes are majestic in the wintertime. The bonus of no gate admission was a welcome treat. Although the building near the beach is under construction, the public restroom was available. The new landscaping and building improvements are incredible. It's hard to believe that it's the same place!

Had a great experience both in the house tour & the walk around the grounds…read more (More words more words, darn yelp wants more words, so here they are)

John was amazing tour guide and was very knowledgeable about the history oft the house and each…read moreowner. I'm a fan of Mies and have always wanted to come see this house. We were very impressed by the information we got and the nice video acknowledging native land and how that area changed over history. Was amazing and will recommend!

What's up with this visitor's center?…read more Today, I had stopped in this visitor center to pick up some items at the Chicago Public Library. As soon as I walked in, I noticed the "stillness in the air". There is something really lacking. In the past, there were always visitors in this center checking out various tours, brochures or maps. Today, I noticed lack of tour information and maps. The shelves are pretty empty. Even the attendants look bored and I noticed one on his phone. I guess I will continue to check out various tours on line instead of going into this quiet center.

***This is okay but not great visitor center; Baltimore's visitor center in the Inner Harbor…read morefeatures a much more comprehensive selection of things to do and places to see; this visitor center does feature several different maps for free (better than paying the high prices for maps at one of the pharmacies in Downtown Chicago)*** I am not sure what the parking situation is around here.

We only had a morning to explore the park and enjoyed our short journey. There was construction…read moregoing on so we had to detour to make it to the beach but it was worth the drive. There was a large parking lot, showers to remove sand and restrooms near the beach. It was beautiful scenery and my kids loved looking for "beach treasures". Perfect for a beautiful September day.

A family beach day at Indiana Dunes on August 9, 2024, became a humiliating and traumatic…read moreexperience. My husband and I brought our four children, ages 9, 7, 3, and 1, along with my sister and her 9-year-old son. After lifeguards warned us to stay knee-deep because of strong waves, my nephew went slightly too far into the water twice. We apologized and understood the safety concern. Instead of simply asking us to leave, security escalated the situation: my husband was detained on the beach, and I was repeatedly prevented from returning to our children, who were only 30-40 feet away. I watched my 9-year-old daughter cry while a stranger comforted her and tried to help her wrangle my 3 and 1-year olds. When another National Park law-enforcement officer arrived, I asked whether I could return to my children. He immediately said yes, making the first officer's refusal even harder to understand. The situation was humiliating and frightening for our family, especially over a minor safety violation involving a 9-year-old child (and again - this child was not even ours, it was my sister's son). We later requested records and video through FOIA so the incident could be independently reviewed. Despite our efforts, they never provided us with the footage. We fully support enforcing water-safety rules. If we needed to leave, we would have left. But there was no reason a simple safety issue had to become detention, separation from our children, and public humiliation. Our family experienced none of the judgment, proportionality, or basic humanity that day. We will never return to Indiana Dunes. When we want a beach day now, we drive past Indiana and continue to Michigan.